Sharingan's New Partner
by obeytherandomness
Summary: Sharingan has always worked alone, but the council has decided that he needs a partner. They assign him to the only partner they think will be able to keep up with him, but he doesn't know anything about said partner. Is he more dangerous than he seems? this is sasunaru
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Naruto

* * *

Sharingan was a legendary, independent assassin who was known for his ability with his bow and arrow. His eyes showed him more things at farther distances than anyone else's eyes would have. He could load, aim, and shoot arrows much faster than anyone else. He was the perfect long-range shooter, but his flaw lied in his inability to fight multiple people at short ranges. When his arrows ran out, which they rarely did, he could do nothing but run until back up came to assist him.

The council members could not afford any of their fighters to have flaws. If any of them did, they were assigned to a team member who balanced them out. That is why they decided that Sharingan should have a partner who specialized in short-range fighting. However, the only one they could find who balanced Sharingan had been labeled as a threat a long time ago and had been locked away.

"Sharingan," they said to him when he walked into the room to seek his next assignment. "We have decided to assign you to a partner."

"I don't need one," answered Sharingan. "I am doing perfectly fine on my own."

"You almost failed the last mission because you are too weak to face these things on your own," they said. "We will assign you to a partner whether or not you like it and you will keep a close eye on him."

"You mean you want me to be his baby-sitter," Sharingan growled. "I am not going to watch out for some newbie. He will only get in my way."

"His name is Kyuubi." They completely ignored what he had just said. "He will be your partner until further notice."

"I don't want a partner," Sharingan growled again.

"The most important part of having him as a partner, Sharingan, is that you remember your training."

This got Sharingan's attention. "My training?" he asked.

"Shoot anything that poses a threat to your mission." With that they waved their hands in a dismissing manner.

"Yes council," Sharingan bowed grudgingly as he left the room. He already had a bad feeling about this whole thing. Why should he be forced to take a newbie? Didn't they know that this newbie would only hold him back?

* * *

Sasuke growled angrily as he stalked down the hall to find his new partner. He did think it was kind of weird that the council had sent him towards the dungeon area where they kept all the people they deemed to be dangerous. Sasuke had never seen anyone leave that dungeon. Maybe his new partner was a guard of this dungeon.

When he arrived at the entrance to the dungeon he saw one of the guards fastening a blonde haired young boy's arms with some sort of metal exoskeleton that created claws at the tip of each finger. His new partner was wearing short light jean shorts that barely covered his butt and a fitted black jacket that covered whatever shirt was underneath. On his feet he was wearing black combat boots. If Sasuke hadn't already been told that this person was a boy, he would have thought that he was a girl. By what Sasuke could see through the clothes, the kid looked a little underweight for the job and his hands looked much too weak to do any hand-to-hand combat. He also had scars on his face that was probably due to some sort of carelessness in the dungeon.

"There," hissed the guard as he pushed the blonde haired boy away. "Now wait here for your partner to come."

"Come on," Sasuke growled before turning around and walking the other way. He could hear Naruto run after him before he saw the boy walking quietly beside him.

"Where are we going?" the boy asked quietly as they left the home base.

"We're going after our next target," Sasuke said as he threw the work-file back at the boy. He opened the file for a second before closing it.

"How are you going to fight them when we find them?"

"Oh my god," Sasuke sighed exasperatedly. "I can't believe I have to work with a newbie."

"I'm not a newbie," the boy said.

"Just because you worked down in the dungeons," growled Sasuke, "that does not mean that you have experience in the field."

"I don't know what you are talking about," said Naruto.

"Oh great," Sasuke sighed. "He's an idiot too."

"I'm not an idiot," growled Naruto.

"Clearly you are if you don't even know how to kill someone."

"Fine then," said Naruto. "I'll just stand by for this one and you can show me how you fight."

"Gladly," Sasuke growled before stalking away. Naruto turned and headed back the way they had just come from.

* * *

It didn't take long for Sasuke to find a suitable place on the roof of a tall building to shoot his new targets that were meeting in the building next to the one he was standing on. They were a group of five corrupt businessmen who each had several bodyguards surrounding them. Sasuke didn't care. With his skills with a bow he could just shoot right past the bodyguards and into the corrupt men's skulls.

After putting on his blood red mask, Sasuke slowly pulled out his first arrow and laced it into the bow. Holding his breath, he aimed and fired. The first shot hit with deadly accuracy, but it also gave away Sasuke's position so he would have to take out the other four before the bodyguards would be able to do anything to harm him. He reached back for another arrow only to find that he had no more. He cursed himself. He had been so worked up about having to have a new partner that he had forgotten to replace the arrows that he had used on his last mission. It was his first mistake and it could lead to his death.

When he looked back over at his targets' meeting place he saw that all the bodyguards already had their guns point at him. He had no time to escape. The only thing he could do was throw himself to the ground as the mirage of bullets came flying towards him. He had no cover to shield him from the weapons, but, luckily, he was only grazed by a couple of the bullets.

The mirage of bullets stopped and Sasuke assumed that they were just reloading their weapons, but when he looked up he realized that there was someone else in the room with his targets. With an angry growl he realized that it was his new partner with a mask of a fox's face. "What is that idiot doing?" he growled to himself. He watched helplessly as Naruto remained in the other building with guns pointed towards his head.

* * *

Thank you for reading. If you have and questions, comments or requests, please feel free to message me and I will be sure to read them all. Flames are accepted and used to improve my stories.

I've decided to post all of my neglected stories. I hope you like this one.

I have the next chapter for this one written, but I didn't want to post everything at once, so I will post the next chapter in a weak unless I get 5 comments before then.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's not nice to shoot at an unarmed man," Naruto said when he entered the room with the four corrupt businessmen. All eyes and weapons turned to him and Naruto had to hold back a laugh at their stupidity for letting Sasuke go unnoticed.

"Who are you?" one of them asked.

"I am the assassin known as Kyuubi," Naruto answered through his beloved fox mask as he gave a deep bow that made it so that he couldn't see any of his targets. They could have tried to shoot them right then and there, but they didn't. It's good to see that his reputation had continued even though he had not.

"No it can't be," gasped one of the bodyguards.

"So you know who I am," Naruto smirked even though none of them could see him. Of course the bodyguard's would know who he was. It was their job to know every assassin and be able to defend against them.

"You are supposed to be dead," said another.

"You shouldn't believe every rumor that you hear," said Naruto.

"Then what happened to you?" asked another. "You haven't been seen in at least two years."

"I grew too strong," Naruto said with a bitter voice, "and they locked me up in the dungeons where I was supposed to spend the rest of my life."

"Why are you here then?" asked one of the businessmen.

"I was assigned as Sharingan's partner," Naruto said with a sweeping motion towards where Sasuke still sat atop the building.

"I will buy you away from them," said another businessman. "I'll give you a life of luxury, and I'll never throw you into any sort of dungeon. Just name your price and I will give it to you if you kill Sharingan."

"I would rather not name a price," said Naruto as he walked over to the corrupt man who had died by Sasuke's arrow. He scowled when he saw that the man's eyes were still open. He hated it when the eyes were left open. He hated being able to see the windows to people's souls being so clouded over. He reached forward and gently slid the man's eyelids shut.

"I'll give you a million dollars," said one of the businessmen.

"I'll give you two million dollars and a mansion to live in," said the second.

"I'll give you five million dollars, two mansions, and a yacht," said the third.

"I'll give you ten million dollars, five mansions, three yachts, and a jet," said the fourth.

The four of them continued to throw their offers at Naruto, each getting more and more outrageous, as they moved closer to him. Naruto did nothing to either accept their offers or deny their offers until they were standing just behind him. "I've decided," he said finally.

"Yes?" the businessmen asked hopefully, each one thinking that he would choose their offer against the others.

"I could never work for filthy scum like you." Naruto turned and thrust the metal claws on his left hand into one man's stomach and the claws on his right hand dug into another man's head as he grabbed him to throw him at the advancing guards. That was two down and two more to go. He turned back to get those two when he realized that he was surrounded by the body guards and that the businessmen were trying to escape through the door that he had come through. Luckily he had seen this coming and had made precautionary measures that would not allow the door to open no matter how hard the weak businessmen tried.

Naruto had to make quick work of the bodyguards if he wanted to get rid of the corrupt before the police came, but he also didn't want to kill them. He refused to murder anyone, but the targets he was sent after. He fought them hand to hand while dodging the bullets that they kept trying to shoot at him, until finally only the businessmen remained awake.

"Please spare us," they cried. "We will do good things. We'll donate to the poor and give up our businesses."

"I'm afraid it is too late for you," said Naruto as he killed them both by using his claws to cut their throats.

When all the men were dead, he turned to leave only to hear police officers. Apparently someone had heard the bodyguard's guns and had called the police. He cursed as he looked up to see Sasuke still watching him. He couldn't go down and be caught by the police since he had blood all over him, but he could go up.

Naruto quickly ran to the stairs and headed for the roof. Once there he readied himself to run. "What are you doing?" he heard Sasuke ask, but he didn't answer. He simply sprinted forward and jumped from the roof he was on to the roof that Sasuke was on. Unfortunately, he didn't jump quite far enough to get to the other roof safely. Only his hands were able to catch the edge of the roof. "You idiot!" Sasuke growled as he helped Naruto up.

Naruto laughed. "At least I didn't try to kill the targets without my weapons," he said as he pulled the pack of arrows off his back and gave it to Sasuke.

Sasuke growled and snatched the arrows away from Naruto. He hated being made a fool of, and Naruto had just done that. Before he could even say anything, Naruto had already taken off. Sasuke followed immediately.

* * *

When they were safely away from the building where the businessmen were murdered Naruto stopped running to catch his breath. Sasuke stopped beside him gasping for air. Naruto was much faster than him and he had to struggle to keep up with the man.

"Wow!" Naruto said. "What a rush!"

Sasuke growled. Only newbies would think that killing created a rush. After some time that rush faded and it just turned into the feeling of any other job. "Come on newbie," he hissed. "We have to get back to the council and report on how we did." Sasuke was not looking forward to this part. He knew that if he told them that he had forgotten to refill his arrows than they definitely wouldn't let him get rid of Naruto like he was hoping to do.

* * *

Naruto twitched outside the council room as he and Sasuke waited to be called in. He hated this room. The last time he had been to this room was when the council members decided that they were going to lock him up forever. He had decided as soon as he had been let out that he would never allow that to happen again.

"You may come in," said the secretary who sat just beside the door.

Sasuke obediently stood and marched into the room, but Naruto hesitated. He didn't want to go into the room that had caused so many bad memories for him, but he knew that if he stayed outside he would make both Sasuke and the council members angry. He quickly followed Sasuke into the dark room and stood next to him in the middle of the large circle of old council members.

"Sharingan," one of them said. He sounded somewhat disappointed and angry. Sasuke tensed. He knew they must have been watching him and knew that he had forgotten his weapons. He cursed himself in his mind. He should have known they would be watching him and the newbie to make sure that the newbie didn't make any mistakes. Instead of seeing the newbie make mistakes, they actually saw Sasuke make the worst mistake of his entire career. "You forgot your weapons."

"It was my fault," Naruto said before Sasuke could apologize. All eyes looked at Naruto, but instead of intimidating him like they would have done to anyone else they actually encouraged him to continue. "I distracted him." It was a weak excuse, but it was the only one that Naruto could offer.

All of the council members looked down at Naruto angrily. "I do not believe we gave you permission to speak Kyuubi."

"I don't remember asking for it," Naruto answered rudely. This actually wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. It was just like every other time that he had been in this room.

There was an angry growl throughout the council members and Sasuke glared at him as though to tell him to shut up, but Naruto stood proud anyway.

"How dare you speak to us that way," growled the council members.

"I can speak to you however I want," answered Naruto.

Sasuke tensed. Naruto was going to get himself into trouble and would probably drag him down with him. "Shut up newbie," he growled, but Naruto completely ignored him.

"We will punish you," they threatened.

"What punishment could possibly be worse than the one that I've already endured for doing exactly what I was supposed to do?" Naruto said.

The council members froze. They really couldn't do anything to Naruto to make him fear them anymore. The boy had already endured the dungeon for years and the only thing that they could do to him was to throw him back into the dungeon, but that would leave Sasuke without a partner. They growled. There really was nothing that they could do. "You are to be sent out on another mission," they said with an angry growl. "Do not fail us again Sharingan."

Sasuke bowed and walked out while Naruto followed him without paying any respect to the council members.

* * *

and here is chapter 2. i'll post ch 3 on saturday unless i get 5 comments before then


	3. Chapter 3

"How dare you speak to the council members that way," growled Sasuke when they had left the room. "You made me look bad."

"I can talk to those bastards however I want to," Naruto answered. He now knew that he was no longer afraid of them as he used to be. They could no longer do anything to control him. He could be free if he wanted to be.

"Look newbie," growled Sasuke. "If you are going to work here than you are going to have to learn a few rules. The first one is that you never disrespect the elders."

"I told you to stop calling me a newbie. I-" Naruto froze and Sasuke looked ahead of them to find that they were outside of the missions room. "Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled happily as he ran into the room.

Iruka looked up shocked. He hadn't heard that voice in years. "Naruto?" he gasped as Naruto tackled him to the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a new mission," Naruto smiled happily as he got off of Iruka and helped the man up.

"But I thought you were supposed to be down in the dungeons," said Iruka.

"Apparently Sasuke needed me more," answered Naruto.

"I do not need you," growled Sasuke. "How do you know the mission's director anyway? You don't get missions when you're working in the dungeon."

"He doesn't know?" asked Iruka.

"Nope," Naruto shook his head. "Apparently they just dumped me on him without even telling him about me. He totally thinks I'm a newbie."

"You are a newbie," growled Sasuke. "Only a newbie would find killing our targets exhilarating."

"I never said that," Naruto suddenly became serious as he was talking. "I have never and will never find murder to be exciting. I was referring to the jump from one building to the other."

"You jumped over two buildings?" gasped Iruka. "You could've been hurt."

"I made it," Naruto answered indignantly.

"But that's still dangerous for your first mission," said Iruka.

"I'll be fine," Naruto smiled.

"Can we just have our next mission?" growled Sasuke. He was getting impatient and he just wanted to do something other than stand around and watch the two of them have their little reunion.

"Of course," Iruka gasped. "I apologize."

"And give us a hard one," said Naruto.

"I would never give you anything less," said Iruka as he handed the mission folder to Naruto who promptly handed it to Sasuke. He used to try to give Naruto the easy ones because he was worried about the boy, but as soon as Naruto and the council had figured out about this he had gotten into serious trouble. Not to mention Naruto complained about it for weeks after that. He would never make that mistake again.

"Come on," growled Sasuke. He was getting annoyed and the fact that Iruka had handed the mission folder to Naruto like he was the one in charge had irritated him to no end. There was no way he was below the newbie.

"Coming," Naruto smiled before turning back to Iruka. "Is Kakashi-sensei still in the armory? I didn't see him in there earlier."

"Yea," said Iruka. "I'm sure he'll be happy to see you again."

"Alright," Naruto waved at Iruka as he ran to catch up to Sasuke who was already heading towards the armory. "See you later Iruka-sensei."

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled over all of the sounds of clanging metal as blacksmiths forged and fixed weapons.

There was a particularly loud clang as a large piece of metal was dropped when Kakashi heard the voice of a boy that he thought he would never hear again. He rushed to the front of the armory to find Naruto standing there looking for him. "Naruto?" he asked.

"Yep," Naruto smiled. "That's me."

"I thought you were-" Kakashi said.

"I was, but they decided that I was needed as Sasuke's partner more," Naruto said.

"Sasuke?" asked Kakashi as he glanced at the scowling boy next to Naruto. "You mean Sharingan?"

"Yep," answered Naruto. "That's him. The grumbly one over there." Naruto pointed to Sasuke who was glaring at the both of them.

"Why are we even here?" he growled annoyed. "I'm already fully stocked on arrows."

"Well I don't have any," said Naruto.

"Why do you need some?" growled Sasuke. "You're a close combat assassin."

"There for just in case you run out," said Naruto. "Besides, I need to get Kakashi to fix my weapons for me."

"You got your claws remade?" asked Kakashi.

"Yea," Naruto nodded. "I thought you had been the one to make them like you did last time, but then I put them on and I knew that you definitely weren't the one who made them. These ones are so uncomfortable and they move really weird."

"We aren't going to wait here for you to get your weapon fixed," Sasuke said. "We have a mission to perform."

"Of course we aren't going to wait," said Naruto. "Kakashi-sensei's going to make me a new pair of claws and I will use these bad pairs while I wait."

"You always have to challenge me don't you Naruto," Kakashi said as he shook his head. Normally when a weapon like that was made to fit a person exactly would be made with the person sitting there so that none of the measurements could go wrong.

"I believe in you," said Naruto with a smile. "Now, where are the arrows so that we can go and Sasuke will stop whining about us taking so long to leave?"

"I am not whining," Sasuke hissed.

"Yea you are," Naruto laughed as he took the bag of arrows that Kakashi handed to him.

* * *

"So where are we going this time?" asked Naruto.

"Can't you read?" growled Sasuke as he handed the file back to him.

"But I don't want to," whined Naruto.

"Well tough," Sasuke said. "Either you read it or you don't know where we are going."

"Who's our target?" asked Naruto.

"Damnit," hissed Sasuke. "Read the damn file. If you don't even know who we're after than you can put us in serious danger."

"I know what he looks like," said Naruto. "I saw his picture. I want to know what his name is."

"Then read the file."

"But I don't want to," Naruto whined.

"Too bad," Sasuke grit his teeth. He was hating working with Naruto and he would probably shoot him if he didn't get some semblance of peace and quiet very soon.

"Please Sasuke," Naruto said. "Just tell me what the name is."

"Read the damn file," Sasuke growled.

"I can't," Naruto muttered.

Sasuke stopped immediately when he heard this. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I can't read," Naruto said a little louder so that Sasuke could hear.

"How did you know where the target was for our last mission?" asked Sasuke.

"I asked someone to read it for me," answered Naruto. He was blushing really hard.

"Whatever," growled Sasuke. This was yet another thing that was a problem about his new partner. "His name doesn't matter. Just follow me."

* * *

sorry for the late update. i'll try to post the next chapter on saturday unless i get 5 comments before then


	4. Chapter 4

Sasuke led Naruto to a diner where they sat in a corner booth, which avoided them a full view of the entire restaurant.

"Why are we here?" asked Naruto.

"This is our target's favorite hangout," sighed Sasuke. This was going to be a very long day and he would continue to have very long days until he could finally get rid of this dobe.

"Oh," Naruto said. "Is that why he's here right now?"

"What?" Sasuke asked looking around. He hadn't even seen the man come in and he had been watching the door ever since he sat down. "Where?"

"He's right there." Naruto said making a short gesture towards a table shrouded in shadow so that the men sitting there wouldn't notice.

Sasuke wanted to kick himself. How could he not have seen them sitting there? This new partner was more of a distraction than help. Now if only he could get the council to see that so they would take Naruto off his team.

"What's our plan?" Naruto asked quietly, but to Sasuke it sounded like the loudest thing in the diner. He quickly shushed the boy because he was afraid that their targets might have heard them. "What?" Naruto asked. "I was only asking a question. You didn't have to get all rude on me ya bastard."

"Just shut up Naruto," Sasuke growled quietly.

"Then tell me what our plan is."

"Are you an idiot?" Sasuke hissed. "I know you're new to being out on the field, but it's stupid to talk about our plan in front of the intended target."

Sasuke would have said more, but Naruto shushed him as he watched a shadow walk over towards them.

"Hey sweetheart," their target said to Naruto when he reached their table.

"Hey," Naruto said a little flirtatiously. Sasuke couldn't help but to be shocked at Naruto's sudden change in demeanor.

Their target smirked and slid into the seat next to Naruto. "I see you like archery," he said as he motioned to the arrows that were resting next to Naruto in the booth.

Naruto gave a bright smile. "We're actually getting ready for an archery competition," he lied. "My _friend _is the best archer that I've ever met. We're getting ready to go to the archery range so I'm holding onto half of his arrows and he's holding onto the rest." Sasuke noticed that Naruto stressed the friend and, by the looks of it, so did their target. It was actually rather disgusting though. The target was an old man who was just looking for young girls to have for one-night stands, and Naruto was flirting with him as though he was interested in the older men.

"And what are you going to do while he's practicing?" asked their target.

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged.

"Why don't you come with me?" asked their target as he slowly wrapped his arm around Naruto's waist. "I can keep you entertained while your friend is playing with his arrows."

Sasuke saw a look of disgust pass over Naruto's face before it was quickly replaced with a look of innocent excitement. He had to admit, Naruto was a really good actor.

"Is that okay?" Naruto asked Sasuke. He was about to say no because he was supposed to be keeping an eye on the newbie, but then he realized that Naruto was giving them a perfect way to get into the house and eventually find a great place to kill their target so he nodded quietly as he gritted his teeth. It was supposed to look like a gesture of unwilling acceptance that would look like he actually liked Naruto, and apparently it worked. Their target's smirk widened and he got a little closer to Naruto.

"Let's go right now," their target smirked.

Naruto nodded with a bright grin as he grabbed the little black backpack that held his gauntlets and mask. "I'll see you later," he said as he waved to Sasuke.

"Bye," Sasuke growled out as his fists clenched until they started turning white. He waited until they were outside of the diner before he let down his act and grabbed his bow and all of the arrows. He followed them out and was disgusted to find that their target already had a hand on Naruto's butt. His hands clenched on the bow much harder than they should have done for someone like that man. He wished he could just shoot the guy right there, but neither he nor Naruto were wearing their masks and they were in the middle of a crowded street. His only choice was to follow the two of them and make sure to kill the man before he actually tried to make a move on Naruto.

* * *

The house that the target took Naruto to was a lavish home, but it wasn't big for a man who was as wealthy as him. "This is my second home," the man said with a smile. He was clearly trying to impress Naruto with his great amount of wealth.

"It is very beautiful," Naruto said with awe clear in his voice.

The man led Naruto through the whole house pointing out all the different things that were "worthy of showing such a divine young woman." Naruto had to stop himself from laughing when the man called him a woman. Instead he just blushed cutely at being called divine. This man really did know how to compliment a woman. If the man was much younger, handsomer, and less proud he might be able to get quite a few women, but as it was the man was none of those things. The only thing that was probably getting him any woman at all was his money. Naruto wouldn't be surprised if pretty much all of the women that the man picked up wanted something from him.

"This is a lovely home you have here," Naruto smiled. "Your other one must be just as amazing. Is there anyway I could convince you to let me see that one as well."

"Oh sorry angel," the man said with a nervous smile. "We can't go over there."

"That's too bad," Naruto pouted flirtatiously. "That house must be gorgeous if this is only your second one."

"No," the man laughed. "I actually like this house much better. I find that I'm spending more and more time here."

_Probably to avoid his wife, _Naruto thought to himself. It was clear this man was married. There was a pale line on his ring finger where it was obvious the wedding ring usually sat when he didn't have woman accompanying him.

"You know," Naruto said. "I don't think that I caught your name."

The target laughed creepily, but Naruto ignored it in favor of continuing to collect information. "My name is Gatou," he said with what he probably hoped was a sexy smirk. Naruto only thought that it looked like a lecherous smile. "What can I call this divine woman that is gracing my presence?"

Naruto giggled. "Angel," he said.

"It fits you perfectly," Gatou smirked. "Now for the last place in the house that I wanted to show you." He turned to the door that they had just come upon and pulled it open to reveal a very large bedroom.

"Wow!" Naruto gasped. "I've never seen a room this big."

Gatou walked up and put his arm around Naruto's waist. "You might live in a room like this for the rest of your life."

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked up at him curiously.

Gatou smiled before pulling out a rag and placing it against Naruto's mouth so that the only thing he could breathe in was chloroform. Naruto struggled and was able to break away from the older man's grip, but he had already sniffed enough of the chloroform to be dizzy. He fell over and crashed against one of the poles that held the bed up. "What are you doing," he gasped.

"Well Angel," Gatou said as he advanced towards Naruto. "I think that you would be a great addition to my prostitution ring."

_Great, _Naruto thought, _Why couldn't Sasuke have told me that this man was a human trafficker?_

"Don't touch me," Naruto gasped when he realized that Gatou was reaching out to touch him again. Using the bed to help him move, Naruto moved to the other side of the room where a large window revealed the whole of the backyard. The sun was setting behind him and the glow of it lit up his features in the room.

"Don't worry," Gatou smirked. "You'll be treated well by whoever buys you. Maybe. And you'll probably go for quite a high price so you'll be living with a rich guy."

"I'm not going to be sold," Naruto growled.

"Oh Angel," Gatou laughed. "You don't have a choice in this matter."

* * *

Yay for the cliff hanger. Not really. I know you guys are probably all glaring at me, but I do have the next chapter written. I'll post it on Saturday unless I get 5 comments before then.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm not going to be sold," Naruto growled.

"Oh Angel," Gatou laughed. "You don't have a choice in this matter."

"I have a choice," was the only warning Naruto gave Gatou before he broke the window behind him and jumped. Unfortunately, he was on the second floor and, because of his dizziness, he wasn't able to catch himself before he landed quite roughly on the cemented ground below him. "Sasuke's not going to be happy about this," Naruto mumbled before he tried to run towards the gates that would lead to his escape. This escape was stopped rather abruptly, though, when a pain shot through his leg. "Damnit!" His leg was broken, and, by the looks of it, in more than one place. He would heal quickly, but not quickly enough to get out of this jam that he had gotten himself into. "Damnit," he growled again when he realized that the bodyguards were already coming towards him.

"You idiot." Sasuke was beside him and pulling him up so suddenly that Naruto wouldn't have even realized he was there if he had been anyone else. He wrapped Naruto's arm around his neck before he took off running. They needed to get out of there before any of them saw what Sasuke looked like. The mission was already messed up as it was, thanks to Naruto's lack of knowledge about the trafficking, and they didn't need everyone to know their identities as well. Naruto's was unavoidable, but Sasuke still had the chance to remain in the shadows.

"You didn't tell me he was a human trafficker," Naruto pointed out as Sasuke helped him run.

"I didn't know," Sasuke admitted.

"Didn't you read the file?" Naruto asked.

"I did," Sasuke nodded, "but I only read the important stuff."

"Well that would have been important to know," Naruto said.

"Well if you hadn't gotten up close and personal with our target than we wouldn't have had to know that."

"Sasuke," Naruto sighed. "It is my job to get up close and personal with these guys."

"Than you should read the information yourself," growled Sasuke.

"I can't read," Naruto growled.

"Than you should learn," Sasuke hissed right back.

"The council doesn't think it's important enough for me to learn to read," Naruto sighed. "They say that everything that is important they can just tell me themselves."

"Why would the council have anything to do with your learning to read? It's not like they stopped you from learning to read before you joined them."

"My father didn't think it was worth his time to teach me," Naruto answered, "and my mother died giving birth to me. Besides, it's really the only way they can control me now."

"What?" Sasuke was so shocked that all of his previous anger left him. "What do you mean it's the only way they can control you?"

"I mean," Naruto sighed, "that by me not being able to read I have to depend on the council or any other person that I can find to read things for me. Because I have to rely on them, they think they can control me, but they can't. Not anymore at least."

"Whatever," Sasuke shook his head. He felt bad for Naruto, but because of this little screw up they would have to work fast to eliminate their target. "We need to take care of our target now. Before he leaves because he thinks that you went to the police."

"You're right," Naruto nodded determinedly. "When I was inside his house I found the perfect spot for you to hide when you shoot at him."

"Seriously?" Sasuke asked. He wasn't shocked that his new partner had been checking the place out while he was inside the house, but he was kind of surprised that he had found Sasuke a place to attack. It was probably going to be really bad, but right at that moment he didn't really have any time to be picky about it. "Where is it?"

Naruto explained where the hiding place was and Sasuke left immediately. He didn't know if the tree would provide any sort of shelter at all. Knowing a newbie, Sasuke didn't think that it would so he was surprised to find that the tree did in fact provide a sufficient hiding place as well as a good view of almost the entire house. He could see their target yelling at some of his men and Sasuke realized that he was probably trying to make them find Naruto. He knew that if anyone were to be able to escape him, he would be in deep trouble, but he didn't know how much trouble he was really in.

Sasuke slipped his bow off his shoulder and lightly rested an arrow against the string. He waited until their target was completely alone before he began to pull the string taught. He only had one chance at this before everyone figured out where he was and, even though he hated the Council for pointing it out, he knew his weakness with hand to hand combat. He had to shoot the arrow and immediately run. He wouldn't even get the chance to see if the thing hit its target.

Sasuke took slow calming breaths to ease his heart rate to a point where it didn't bother him. Than with one last deep breath in he released the arrow and it sailed through the air. He heard the shattering of a window being broken, and the thump of someone's dead body hitting the ground, but he wasn't able to tell if he had hit his target because he was too busy running back to where he had left Naruto to rest.

* * *

"That was great!" Naruto said when Sasuke finally allowed the two of them to take a short break in an alley far from their target's home. Naruto wasn't winded at all as he leaned against the wall to give his healing leg a bit of rest, but Sasuke was gasping for breath. The only other times that he had ever been forced to leave a murder so quickly was when he was chased and that happened so rarely that most of his muscles resided in his arms where they could help him control his bow.

"Oh yea," Sasuke rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Getting almost caught is always fun."

"I was talking about your shot," Naruto scowled.

"My shot?" Sasuke asked and Naruto nodded. "How did you see my shot? You were on the other side of the building."

"I didn't see it." This time it was Naruto's turned to roll his eyes. "I heard it. You can always tell what man falls by the sound that their body makes when they fall. I'm almost certain that you got Gatou with that shot."

"How the hell could you hear that?" Sasuke exclaimed. "You were on the other side of the building!"

"I have good hearing," Naruto shrugged. "Wait, you mean the council didn't tell you anything about me?"

"God damnit Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as he pulled an arrow out and held it against his neck. "Tell me what's going on right now or I swear to god I will not hesitate."

"Be careful there Sasuke," Sasuke was surprised that the narrowed look Naruto was giving him actually made the boy look threatening. "We're in my domain right now." Before Sasuke could even move, Naruto had him pinned against the wall with the arm that was holding the arrow twisted painfully behind his back. "If you want to know more about me, then you should go and ask your precious council."

"Let him go," another voice spoke.

"Yea yea," Naruto sighed as he released Sasuke and backed away with his hands in the air. There was still a limp in his gait, but even that was quickly receding.

Sasuke turned and found that he recognized the man who was now holding a dagger before him and creeping towards them. He was a tracker, but he kept a dagger with him just in case he ever got caught. "What are you doing here Akamaru?" Sasuke asked.

"My dog got hurt on my last mission," Akamaru answered without looking away from Naruto, "so I got assigned to keep an eye on you until he heals."

"Oh," Naruto said with a grin, "so you're the great Akamaru. Apparently you are the reason for putting several people in the dungeons. A lot of them talk about you. You and your dog. Why is your code name your dog's name?"

"Shut up," Akamaru growled. He was now just more than an arms distance away, but he knew not to get any closer. He was good with a dagger, but he was certain that if he ever had to face off with a close combat assassin, he would not win. "I'm going to have to take you to the council now."

"I don't think so," Naruto's eyes narrowed once again as he glared at Akamaru and the dagger. "You aren't taking me anywhere, and you can tell that damn council that they can no longer control me. They lost their bargaining chip a long time ago."

"The council told me that if you should ever pose any threat to anyone, I should bring you in immediately," Akamaru said, "so just come with me quietly and don't make this hard on yourself. You don't want the council to put you in the dungeons." Anyone who disobeyed the council was always sent to the dungeon and, usually, that threat was enough to get anyone in line, but Naruto wasn't just anyone and he wouldn't let himself be bullied.

"To late," Naruto shrugged.

"You don't understand you idiot," Sasuke hissed. "You won't just be working in the dungeons, you'll actually be a prisoner."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sasuke before laughing. "They really didn't tell you anything about me did they?"

"What?" Sasuke asked affronted.

"Nobody ever told you that I worked in the dungeons," Naruto pointed out easily.

"Why else would you be down there?" Sasuke growled.

"Why else?" Naruto repeated. "What is the only other reason to be in the dungeons on a regular basis?"

"You were a prisoner?" Sasuke suddenly realized.

"But no one ever comes out of there alive," Akamaru gasped.

"Took you long enough," Naruto smirked.

"What did you do?" Sasuke asked suddenly. He wasn't made aware that his new partner was a prisoner and that didn't sit well with him. He was supposed to know everything about his partner so that he would be able to work well with him, but, Sasuke suddenly realized, he really didn't know anything about Naruto. He had been too busy trying to get rid of the boy, so he hadn't even attempted to get to know him.

"Why don't you ask the council?" Naruto shrugged. "It seems that we're going to go and talk to them right now anyway."

* * *

And that's the last prewritten chapter of this story. I'll post the next one once i'm finished writing it.


	6. Chapter 6

"Why did you reveal yourself?" the council asked Akamaru when he entered the room with Sasuke and Naruto.

"Kyuubi attack Sharingan," Akamaru bowed his head respectfully. "You told me to bring him in if he did anything to harm anyone that wasn't a target."

"Is this true?" asked the council.

"Well I don't know," Naruto smirked mischievously. "I wasn't there when you gave him his mission so I don't actually know what you said."

"Do not patronize us boy," the council hissed back. "You know that we were talking about you assaulting your partner."

"Oh," Naruto shrugged. "He threatened me first."

"That was not our question," growled the council.

"And," Naruto continued as if they didn't just say anything to him, "technically, I didn't attack him. I just incapacitated him."

"So then you did attack him?" the council said.

"No," Naruto answered. "I just made it so that he couldn't attack me."

"You will not attack your partner again," the council ordered.

"That all depends on if he attacks me first," Naruto said nonchalantly. The council glared the glare that once might have put him in his place, but not anymore. "Besides," he continued defiantly. "What will you do if I do?"

"You will be sent to the dungeons," the council sat back with a satisfied smirk. That threat always worked and they were sure it was going to work again.

"I don't think so," Naruto laughed.

"What?" the council's eyes widened.

"You aren't going to send me to the dungeon," Naruto clarified.

"Why not?" the council leaned forward and feigned confidence.

"Because," Naruto smiled as though he was talking about the weather. "I won't let you."

"You think you have a choice in this manner?" the council asked with a raised eyebrow. "You do not get to decide whether or not we replace you in the dungeon. We will do so forcefully if we have to."

"I do have a choice in this manner," Naruto said much more confidently then the council was pretending to be, "because we both know that no one will ever be able to beat me around here. You let me out and now I'm never going back in. You want to punish me? You'd be better off just killing me, but then you wouldn't have your little experiment to find a way to remake me."

"We have already done so," the council said.

"Shukaku?" Naruto laughed. "I heard of him. He's supposed to be really strong and hell bent on killing anything that he wants. But he only has one tail doesn't he? You think that he is going to be enough to defeat me?"

The council members all looked at each other nervously. They were finally realizing that they really had no way of controlling the Kyuubi.

"So now that you understand all that," Naruto said. "Why don't you answer the question that Sharingan's been dying to ask?"

The council turned its attention to Sasuke. Anything to look away from the boy whose power they so feared. "What is it?" they asked him sternly.

Sasuke glared at Naruto for a moment. He did not want this to be turned around on him, but he supposed he could use this chance to ask the question that Naruto was expecting. It was probably the only time that he was going to get the chance to talk to the council like this. "I want to know who he is," he said as he pointed to Naruto. "Why was he in the dungeon."

The council stiffened and glared at Sasuke. "That is none of your business," they hissed.

"Now now," Naruto laughed humorlessly. "That's a viable question. You sent him out with orders to kill me if I did anything that was dangerous and then you didn't tell him what I was capable. I could have killed him tonight and there would have been nothing you or the tracker that you sent after me would have been able to do about it."

"Leave!" the council demanded frantically. "Leave now!"

"Fine," Naruto shrugged, "but don't blame me when something happens to your precious Sharingan because you were too busy protecting your own asses to worry about his."

"Get out!" the council yelled.

Naruto gave them a foxy grin before he slipped through the door and out of sight.

"What is going on?" Sasuke demanded. He was well aware of the fact that he was disrespecting the council, but he was not going to just stand there and let them use him as some guinea pig. If he was in danger he wanted to know about it so he could at least make some attempt at protecting himself.

"We told you to leave," the council responded with their composure back in tack now that Naruto was no longer in the room. Sasuke frowned at that. Even the council was afraid of Naruto. Who is he? Or, better yet, what is he? Because no human had ever scared the council as much as this Naruto was doing now. Sasuke left the room with these questions whirring around in his head.

* * *

"No luck?" Naruto asked with his trademark foxy grin still pasted on his face.

"What are you?" Sasuke hissed back.

"That's a no," Naruto shrugged and turned away.

"How long were you in the dungeons before you became my partner?" Sasuke asked.

"How long have you been a part of this program?" Naruto asked in return.

"6 years," Sasuke answered.

"And you entered when you were fifteen right?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Sasuke answered skeptically. "What does that have to do with my question?"

"I've been in the dungeon for 7 years," Naruto answered said question.

"How old are you?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmm," Naruto thought for a moment. "This year I'll be 20."

"You were 13 when they through you in the dungeon?" Sasuke's eyes widened. "I didn't even think they accepted people who were younger than 15 to join the program. What could you have done when you were 13 to get you thrown in the dungeon?"

"You're going to have to figure that out on your own Sasuke," Naruto shrugged.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Sasuke hissed in return. "The council won't tell me and you won't tell me so how am I supposed to figure that out."

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged again, "but you're going to have to figure that out on your own because I can't tell you."

"Oh yea," Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Now you follow the rules."

"These are just rules for me," Naruto turned and growled at Sasuke and something in his eyes made Sasuke freeze. "I can't tell you because of the consequences that would happen if I tried." Naruto closed his eyes and the muscles that Sasuke hadn't even noticed had tensed began to relax once more. "You have to figure it out on your own because I want you to, but I have to warn you that going into my past is more dangerous than you can imagine."

The words were meant to be a warning to Sasuke, but they actually served to make him want to know more about Naruto anyway. He would have said that it was because he wanted to know what Naruto could do in order to protect himself and use Naruto to his advantage, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that it had something to do with the fact that Naruto looked so sad in that moment and so alone and Sasuke wanted to know what was making him feel that way so he could hopefully stop it. He didn't want others feeling like he did even though his outward emotions never showed any signs of him caring for another human being.


	7. Chapter 7

Just to let you know before you start reading this chapter, if it's in _italicized _then it's a flashback.

* * *

Both Sasuke and Naruto were suspended from missions until the council decided what to do with them, but Naruto assured Sasuke that they would be back in the field very soon. Sasuke didn't really care, though. He was content with taking the time to research Naruto. He went to Iruka first because the two of them seemed to know each other well. Iruka, of course, did not like the idea of giving away Naruto's personal information.

"I don't know Sasuke," Iruka said worriedly. "It's not really my place to tell you about Naruto's past."

"He said that he can't tell me," Sasuke said, "because something will happen if he tries to, but he said that he wants me to figure it out on my own. You have to help me."

"I don't know," Iruka said, but he shook his head. "I guess that it's okay to at least tell you about the first time we met."

"I suppose that'll be good enough for now."

"He was with his father then," Iruka started.

"His father brought him here when he was so young?" Sasuke asked. Even his father, who had been strict beyond reason, would have ever tried to force him to do this at such a young age.

* * *

_Iruka was sitting at his desk filing his papers. He was waiting for a new recruit that the council members had told him about. Kakashi was standing in front of his desk without the eye patch or the facemask that he always wears now. He was assigned to be the rookie's partner for the first assignment. Iruka wouldn't lie that this made him a bit nervous. Kakashi was one of the strongest assassins and he didn't get assigned rookies. There must be something about this one. _

_The door suddenly swung open to reveal Minato. He was a tall, blonde haired, tan man with bright blue eyes and little to no muscles. Iruka had never liked Minato and Minato had never showed any sign of caring for anything except for his top-secret experiment that only the council was privy to know about._

"_You're the new recruit?" Kakashi asked with his eyebrow raised as he had never been one to hold his tongue on account of not insulting someone he clearly disliked. Minato was not going to be nearly enough to do any of the jobs that assassins do on a regular basis. He would fall within a week._

"_Don't be stupid," Minato growled. "He is." As he spoke he yanked a young boy in front of him with a tight hand around his wrist._

"_He can't be the new recruit," Iruka gasped. "He doesn't look any older then 4."_

"_He's 5," Minato hissed._

* * *

"He was 5?" Sasuke cut in. "They sent him on his first mission when he was 5?"

Iruka nodded sadly before continuing his story.

* * *

"_He's 5," Minato hissed, "and he will be taking your most difficult case."_

"_I refuse," Iruka said. He would not give a five year old any missions, let alone his hardest one. _

"_You will do as I say," Minato demanded, "or you will be thrown in the dungeon."_

"_Daddy," Naruto spoke up in his cutely childish voice. Iruka couldn't help the flinch that made it's way through his body at the knowledge that the boy's own father was being so cruel to him. "What's the dungeon?"_

"_It's where you'll be going if you don't shut up," Minato tightened his fist around Naruto's arm so Naruto quieted by putting his free hand into his mouth to suck his thumb. The action was so childishly cute that Iruka wanted to refuse damn the punishments that the council would throw at him, but Kakashi wouldn't let anything happen to him and he trusted that Kakashi would protect Naruto as well, so he handed to folder of his hardest mission to Kakashi._

"_Are you ready to go squirt?" Kakashi asked with his kindest smile as he crouches down and picks up the young Naruto before walking out of the room. _

_Minato scowls at his back, then once more at Iruka, and leaves the room to return to his lab._

* * *

"And he actually went on the mission?" Sasuke asked with wide eyes. Iruka nodded once more. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but I really can't tell you that," Iruka replied. "I only know what happened by the mission report that I saw and even that has several blanks. Kakashi told me what happened as well, but you're going to have to ask him about it if you want to know more information."

"Where can I find him?" Sasuke asked.

"He should be working at the weapons forgery," Iruka said.

"Fine," Sasuke sighed. "I'll go find him."

"Wait Sasuke," Iruka stopped him. "After you talked to Kakashi, you might want to check out his folder. You might be able to find something in there." The folders were kept for each of them. All of their strengths and weaknesses as well as their backgrounds and personal information were collected and placed in a manila folder for all who wanted to see. Most stayed away from the folders for the simple fact that they were being respectful to the others as they hoped the others would be respectful to them, but Sasuke was willing to venture near it just to see Naruto's folder.

"Thanks," Sasuke waved behind him as he left the room to find Kakashi.

Kakashi was indeed in the weapons forgery like Iruka had said and he was a lot more forthcoming on the information that he gave.

"Naruto told me that you would probably come by and ask me questions when he came to he his new weapons checked for size," Kakashi said as he worked on a metal hand that Sasuke could only assume was Naruto's. "He also told me that I have permission to tell you as much as I'm comfortable with telling you."

"What happened during his first mission?" Sasuke asked. He was not going to let this chance go to waist before it was revoked.

"So you already talked to Iruka?" Kakashi asked Sasuke nodded. "Where did he leave off?"

"He told me that you picked Naruto up and left the room," Sasuke replied.

"I was just trying to get him away from Minato," Kakashi sighed. "The bastard was hurting his own son and I wasn't going to let that continue."

* * *

"_So what's your name?" Kakashi asked once he was far enough from Minato that he knew the man wouldn't hear the interaction._

"_I'm Naruto," Naruto grinned up at him. "Today's my birthday you know."_

"_Is it?" Kakashi hid the flinch of disgust towards Minato for sending his son out on his birthday. Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically "And how old are you today?"_

"_I'm 5," Naruto proudly held up the hand that Minato had held, giving Kakashi a good look at the bruising that was forming there._

"_Really," Kakashi said as he did his best to ignore the injury. "You don't look five. You look more like you're three."_

"_I'm five," Naruto pouted and crossed his arms to make his point, but it just made him more cute. "Daddy says that I get to go on a mission today."_

"_Yea," Kakashi hides his grimace with a faked smile. "I'm coming with you."_

"_You are?" Naruto's eyes widened. "But you're so old."_

"_I'll have you know that I have barely entered my thirties," Kakashi choked back a laugh._

"_But your hair is all grey," Naruto pulled on said hair in order to prove his point and Kakashi was actually surprised at how strong the boy's grip was. _

"_That's my natural hair color," Kakashi said. "I've had it since I was young."_

"_It's weird," Naruto said as though it was a new fact that he was letting Kakashi in on. "What's our mission going to be about?"_

_Kakashi sighed and opened the case file with the hand that wasn't holding Naruto up and started to read. He didn't get very far before Naruto cut in. "What does it say?" _

_Kakashi couldn't stop the short laugh when he looked up and saw Naruto's innocently excited eyes scanning the words even though he could obviously not read them. _

"_It says that we're going to have to get in and destroy an entire gang," Kakashi said bluntly. He supposed there was probably a better way to explain it to a child, but he couldn't think of any other way except for the blunt._

* * *

"They wanted you guys to dispose of an entire gang?" Sasuke gaped.

"What I didn't tell Naruto at the time was that I wasn't supposed to help," Kakashi said. "I was just supposed to remain on the sidelines as some sort of back up if he should fall, but I couldn't let that happen and I got scars to prove it." He gestured to his face, which was mostly covered.

"What happened?" Sasuke pressed.

* * *

_It was relatively easy to get into the hideout for the gang. Naruto was light on his feet and didn't mind being used to get through the tiny spaces to unlock doors for Kakashi. Kakashi made quick work with the guards with as little blood as possible to spare Naruto that pain and then they made their way into the main room with both of them wearing their masks. Kakashi's was a white dog and Naruto's was a smaller version of his fox mask that he still wears._

_All hell broke loose as soon as they stepped inside. The two of them were separated and Kakashi lost sight of the little boy while they fought. They were both holding their own, but Kakashi was distracted with worry for Naruto. That's what got him in the end. Because he was distracted, he missed a debilitating shot aimed at him. He couldn't fight after that and the gang members didn't hesitate to scar him. He could hear Naruto crying in the background for a few moments, but then it all stopped. _

_A red light that felt like a flame shot around the entire room and people were screaming in pain._

* * *

Kakashi stopped there and Sasuke waited a moment in patience before he pressed on. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Kakashi shrugged. "I blacked out. The next thing I knew I was in the infirmary with Iruka hovering over me to try to make me all better."

"That really didn't help much," Sasuke sighed.

"It's a process," Kakashi shrugged, "but Sasuke?"

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"Try checking the labs," Kakashi suggested. "You might find some good information in there."

"Alright," Sasuke sighed. "Thanks. I'd better go now."

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out just as Sasuke turned to leave. He was running down the hall with a paper in hand "We got cleared for more mission."

"Alright," Sasuke agreed. He needed something to take his mind off of this mystery that he was trying to solve. He didn't want to think of a five-year-old boy fight the gang members all on his own. It only occurred to him once they were halfway to Iruka's that he never asked if Naruto had beat them all.

* * *

Oh my gosh! Minato's evil!


	8. Chapter 8

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called out happily when they entered the mission office.

"Naruto," Iruka smiled then looked at Sasuke. "Did you find everything that you needed Sasuke?"

"Not yet," Sasuke responded, "but I won't stop looking."

Naruto looked at them curiously, but chose not to ask. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what they were talking about anyway so he really didn't care to know. "Do you have any missions for us?" he asked instead.

"Oh yes," Iruka smiled, "but I thought I heard that the two of you were on probation."

"They took us off of it," Naruto grinned.

"I see," Iruka nodded before handing it to the enthusiastic boy who immediately handed it over to Sasuke. This time Sasuke wasn't as upset about it. He could see that Iruka really cared for Naruto so it was only natural that he would be able to interact with Naruto better than he would be able to interact with him. It didn't really bother him as long as he got the folder in the end.

"I'll meet you outside," Naruto told him before taking off out of the room. Sasuke stared after him worriedly. He may not have been able to figure out all of Naruto's past, but he had figured out enough to think that he was hiding a lot more pain than Sasuke would ever know about.

"Sasuke?" Iruka asked.

"He…" Sasuke spoke, but then he shook his head. "It's nothing. I swear to you I will get to the bottom of this." With that he left the room and a frowning Iruka.

"That might be more dangerous than either of you think," Iruka muttered quietly.

* * *

Naruto met him outside, just as he told him he would, with a new bag of arrows strapped on his back and new gauntlets for his hands. "Do you like them?" he asked. "Kakashi just finished them."

"They look a lot easier to maneuver," Sasuke answered as he began to walk. He had been reading the file while he was waiting for Naruto and he didn't like what he saw. The two of them were supposed to take out a whole gang during their meeting at a precise time. Usually there would be several people put on this mission, but Sasuke supposed it was betters when one of them wasn't a five-year-old. Sasuke frowned as that thought came to him. How would Naruto react? He probably wouldn't react any differently than he had done in previous years, but it was sad that Sasuke even had to take that thought into consideration.

"So what are we going to do?" Naruto asked.

"We're taking down the Akatsuki," Sasuke sighed. Wait a moment. He recognized that name. "Damn it," he growled. "Itachi's part of the Akatsuki."

Suddenly Naruto stopped. "We don't have to take out Itachi do we?" he asked in a quiet voice that Sasuke had never heard before.

Sasuke read the folder a little folder and found the picture of his brother and a note that said he was an informant and that he should not be killed if he was there at all. By the looks of it, it didn't look like any of the main guys were going to be there. Pretty much all underlings. "No," Sasuke scowled.

"You don't seem happy about that," Naruto tilted his head curiously.

"That bastard killed my entire family," Sasuke hissed. "I want to be the one to kill him."

"He was ordered to do so," Naruto mumbled.

"What?" Sasuke growled as he turned to face him.

"The council ordered him to do so," Naruto repeated. "I think he would have just rathered kill your father and mother, than the entire clan, but those were his orders so he carried them out."

"Why would he have rathered kill my parents?" Sasuke wasn't sure if he should be happy that Itachi didn't want to kill his family or upset that he wanted to kill his parents.

"Sasuke," Naruto frowned. "If I tell you something, will you get upset with me?"

"No," Sasuke said cautiously. Naruto was making the same face he had made earlier when they were talking about Naruto being in the dungeon and other things that Naruto couldn't talk about so Sasuke knew this had to be important. If he had to reign in his anger for a short while to do it, then so be it.

"The experiment," Naruto started, but changed his mind and started again. "I was supposed to be you."

"What?" Sasuke's eyes widened.

"You were supposed to be the one who got the experiment done to you," Naruto said, "but the experiment wasn't ready when you were born. So it was passed onto the next child who was born by a family of the cause."

"And that was you," Sasuke realized. That was more than a year later, but they waited for Naruto specifically.

"Your parents were going to just give you over to the experiment," Naruto continued, "and Itachi didn't take to kindly to that. That's why you barely ever saw your parents. That's why you and your brother were so close. He was taking care of you so that your parents wouldn't do anything like that again."

"How do you know all this?" Sasuke asked.

"He joined soon after I did," Naruto answered. "I think it's because I was so close to your age, but we quickly became friends. And then, when the council asked him to kill his entire clan and join the Akatsuki as an informant, he told me everything and asked that I tell you if it was ever necessary."

Sasuke had to stop for a moment and process all of this. It was changing his entire outlook on his family. How could his parents be willing to give him up like that? Why hadn't Itachi ever told him? And other such questions were running through his head, but the most prominent ones were: Why did Itachi put a task like that on a small child? And: Did Naruto's mother, because he knew that his father did, give Naruto up as easily as his parents would have?

It seemed to be that whenever Sasuke learned something new, more questions arose from it. This was going to be a long investigation into Naruto's past.


	9. Chapter 9

It didn't take them long to find the meeting place, Itachi had given them very detailed instructions of how to get there, but it did take them long to actually make there way inside unnoticed. There were guards everywhere. The only reason that they were able to slip inside was because one man just happened to fall asleep at his post. They were only barely able to make it before they heard the man get reprimanded for falling asleep on the job.

Then, after that, Sasuke was almost immediately abandoned to find a spot to get some good shots in. They had agreed on this plan before they entered the building, but something about it worried him. He didn't exactly know what, but he had a gut feeling that something would go wrong and Naruto would get hurt. And he would be able to do nothing about it from his spot so high up. The only thing he could do now was shoot and hope that Naruto would be able to defend himself against anyone that he wasn't able to hit in time.

Sasuke found a good spot up in the rafters. He couldn't see the whole of the room that the meeting was taking place in, but he could see most of it and that would have to do for now. He didn't have time to keep trying to find a good spot because Naruto had already started their work.

Naruto was hiding in the shadows at the sides of the room. Anytime that somebody got near enough to him as he walked around them in circles, he would strike and pull them into the darkness with them where he left their bodies. It was part of their plan to continue this until he was found out. After all, Sasuke couldn't shoot any of his arrows without being noticed so he had to take out as many of the men as he could while still being quiet about it. Sasuke would join in once they were found out.

At least a dozen men laid dead in the darkness before someone went looking for a missing comrade. Naruto was on the other side of the room so they both knew that he wouldn't be able to get there in time. The man gasped when he saw one of the bodies staring up at him and began to scream about how there was someone in the building who was killing them. The whole place went into an uproar.

Sasuke loaded his bow ready to fire, but he hadn't seen Naruto yet. He had to wait for the signal to be given for him to join the fight. Otherwise, he would give away Naruto's presence before it was time. Their plan had to go exactly as they planned it if they were going to be able to get the most people killed before they ever had to fight someone.

"Whose dagger is this!" screamed the man who found the dead body. The dagger was the one that he had pulled out of the heart of the other.

"Isn't that yours?" a man said from the middle of the room. His voice echoing in the silence despite being surrounded by so many others.

"What?" another next to him said. "But I have my… My dagger's missing." Sasuke couldn't help but to smirk. Naruto had been stealing weapons from people and using them to kill the others. He was turning them against each other. He had to admit, though he would never tell anyone this, Naruto was much smarter than he looked.

"You killed him!" the man screamed. Others started accusing the dagger owner of murder too, but he called innocence until the moment that another dead body was found with a different person's weapon thrust through its heart.

It wasn't long before the whole place was in an uproar. They were all fighting each other because none of them really knew who the murderer was and they just wanted to punish someone.

For one small moment, Sasuke thought that it might actually be possible to destroy everyone without too much actual troubled, but, soon after, Naruto was discovered. He had been forced out of his hiding spot by two men who forced each other over to him while fighting. Suddenly all eyes were on him and he lowered himself into a fighting position while they all stared at him.

Their plan had actually worked rather well, Naruto realized. There were several dead bodies now lying everywhere, but now the only problem was that the strongest were the ones who remained. It wouldn't have been so bad if there had only been one strong man to fight, but now all they had accomplished was picking out who was the strongest out of all the Akatsuki underlings. Oh well, Naruto gave a slight shrug as he smirked under his mask, the more challenging, the more fun.

Sasuke was the first to break the frozen air on the ground below him. He let loose the arrow that he already had loaded and immediately loaded and shot another. He couldn't help the smirk that came to him either. He was getting really bored being unable to do anything. And, even though he would never think that murder was fun, everything else that his job implied was always fun. Of course, he would never admit that to anyone.

Naruto looked like he was having fun too. He was racing from one end of the room to the other, taking out anyone who was stupid enough to get in his way, only to turn around and head in another direction. Sasuke had overestimated this group. He thought that they would be much harder to destroy than this. He thought that Naruto might actually be in danger, having to be so close to so many of them, but Naruto seemed to be completely in control. No one seemed to touch him while he fought. There wasn't even a tear in his clothes as far as Sasuke could see.

No sooner did any of these realizations cross Sasuke's mind, then an attack finally pierced through Naruto. One man was able to get a lucky shot in as Naruto turned to head in another direction and it created a large gash in Naruto's side.

Naruto yelped when he felt the searing pain of the dagger piercing skin. It got caught on his ribs to be ripped out of the attackers hand only to fall to the floor mere seconds later leaving a shard of it's blade lodged in his side. He had been getting too lenient and someone had gotten too close to him and now he would be paying the price. The pain was so intense that he could barely move. He could do nothing while the men came towards him.

Sasuke wouldn't let them hurt his partner. He couldn't let them get close to Naruto. It might occur to him later that he was actually actively trying to protect, possibly even by putting himself in danger, the new partner that he absolutely despised only moments ago. It was weird because he was not usually one to give pity to others. Maybe he was just curious about the boy and all the secrets that he seemed to be unable to talk about or maybe he just didn't want another mark on his record, but he would never admit that there was a slight possibility that he might be starting to like the man that the council had assigned to him. No, he wouldn't admit that. Especially since it couldn't be true. Sasuke had never had a friend before.

No matter how many arrows Sasuke let loose, the men still seemed to be getting closer and closer to Naruto. He wasn't fast enough to take them all down before they got there and now there were several people shooting at his position. It was only by pure luck that he hadn't gotten shot yet. In fact, he hadn't even noticed the bullets flying past him since he was so intent on protecting Naruto. He hadn't noticed them until he felt one embed itself in his gut. The pain and the force were so strong that he lost his balance and he fell to the ground with a loud thunk.

"Sasuke!" he could hear the voice in the back of his mind, but he was almost certain that he had gotten a severe concussion from that fall and the blood loss was making him loose consciousness. The last thing he saw was a red substance, like the one Kakashi had told him about, forming over him. His last thought was that he was so warm before he drifted off into darkness.


End file.
